Life is the Messy Bits

     
     Last night I watched the movie "Letters to Juliet" starirng Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave and Christopher Egan.
     The movie was cute and I liked it, although they overdid the cheese in the end. Seriously, the writers could have done better with the whole balcony scene- I was thisclose to rolling my eyes. And I usually don't mind the cheese, but it was a bit much.
     There was one line that really stood out though.
     They're driving up to a mansion of what could be the guy they're looking for and Christopher Egan says something about how she can skip all the messy bits and go straight to the good high-style living. Then Vanessa Reedgrave replies,
     "Life is the messy bits."
     Never has a line in a chick-flick stood out to me more. Life is the messy bits. It's not all perfect and wonderful and mansion living with no problems. Sure there are great moments, and there are awful moments. But if you try and skip out all the messy, then you've basically skipped your life. And if you try to avoid it, then you won't ever learn and grow and become better.
     It was a total ping moment for me.
     I was watching J.K. Rowling on Oprah and she said the same kind of thing. If it weren't for her failures, for hitting rock bottom, and her mother's death, Harry Potter never would have existed. Because she wouldn't have had it in her to write it like it was. There never would have been a Harry Potter.
     Now that doesn't mean that those things weren't hard, or that they're better now because of her success, but look at the person she has grown into and what resulted. It's truly amazing.
     I think it's a good lesson for us all to learn. Life is the messy bits. But that's what makes it life. And that's what makes us who we are. And hopefully who we are is better for all those messy bits.